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Rick Perry Tries To Make Lemonade Out Of Oops-y Debate Lemons
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 10, 2011
Modified Nov 10, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 10, 2011
Modified Nov 10, 2011
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Yesterday, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry became a national laughingstock/object of pity after an embarrassing moment during the 10th Republican debate when he claimed there were three federal agencies he would cut as President, but could only name two. After the debate, Perry tried to make the best of it, by telling reporters, "I'm glad I had my boots on tonight. I stepped in it out there," as his campaign tried to point out that Perry, the governor of Texas, is only human and not a "robot." But even as numerous Republican strategists called this the "death knell" of his campaign—Mike Murphy Tweeted, "Off screen, Dr. Paul is sadly administering the last rites to Rick Perry" while Mark McKinnon compared Perry's performance to the space shuttler Challenger—Perry said, "This ain't a day for quitting nothing."
Perry appeared on morning talk shows, saying on the Early Show, "All of us make mistakes. I'm a human being. And the issue here is that I had a lapse of memory. So many federal agencies were coming to mind that I forgot the one I was trying to think of which is the Energy Department," and added, "Any time you're standing in front of however many million people we were and you have a loss of train of thought, sure. It impacts you. But the fact is one error is not going to make or break a campaign." And on the Today Show, Perry said basically the same thing:
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Perry's campaign also made a bid to raise money off the flub, by asking supporters to donate money to suggest how many agencies they'd cut. Perry will now be appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman. Anthony DeRosa just Tweeted, "Rick Perry is doing the Top 10 on Letterman tonight. Taking bets on how far in he gets before he loses count."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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